Under these ‘assisted passage’ schemes, migrants were given temporary accommodation in exchange for guaranteeing to provide two years labour on government projects such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Almost 40 accommodation centres were established in New South Wales, often in old army barracks. Families were separated with husbands living in barracks close to their work and women and children staying behind in the migrant accommodation.

Conditions were, at best, basic. Other migrants arrived unassisted and lived – some in comfort, others not – with family and friends, and found work independently of the Government.

Between 1945 and 1975, Australia’s population almost doubled. Almost three million migrants arrived, half from Britain and half from other European countries. However it was not until the election of Gough Whitlam’s Federal Government in 1972 that the ‘White Australia’ policy was finally abandoned. The Immigration Minister, Al Grassby, declared in 1973 that ‘every relic of past ethnic or racial discrimination’ was to be abandoned and migrants welcomed from all countries. By the 1996 Census, the Australian population had reached 18 million including 5.6 million people who had immigrated from over 150 countries.

Belongings provides an opportunity to read some of their personal experiences and gain an understanding of the difficulties, challenges and rewards of migration.